An ever-increasing number of persons are undertaking “do-it-yourself” home improvement projects that in the past would have been performed by professional contractors, and the number of sellers of products adapted for performing home improvement and commercial construction projects has also increased, and diversified. Amateurs and professionals performing a particular home improvement or commercial construction project are typically likely to receive different and conflicting information concerning a particular brand of product or “product line” from different stores, and even from different personnel in an individual store. It would therefore be advantageous to amateurs and professionals in the home improvement and commercial construction industries to have a reliable source of consistent, expert information concerning product brands that are available, as well as expert advice and instruction concerning methods and techniques for installation and usage of such products. For example, even experienced professionals may have questions concerning specific products or new products and systems for installation, and can benefit from a customized, streamline, interactive expert information system. It would also be desirable to provide such an expert information system that is able to provide enhanced instruction and training for store personnel and staff, to allow stores to provide better educated staff to interact directly and personally with customers.
It is well known to use attractive and distinct packaging and assertive product claims to entice customers to select a seller's product from the shelves of a home improvement retail store. It is also known that the decision to undertake a particular home improvement project may be affected by the amount of information known regarding the particular project. It would therefore also be desirable to provide an integrated merchandising system coordinating point of purchase signage and packaging with an interactive merchandising system, printed project guide materials offering step-by-step instructions, as well as video instruction to attract consumers to the interactive expert information system, and to alert customers to available project guides, expert information, design services, and the like.
Furthermore, if the steps necessary to perform a particular home improvement project can be conveyed in simple language and in a “step-by-step” format, a novice is more likely to decide to undertake that particular home improvement project himself rather than hiring a professional contractor. It is possible that a novice may be convinced to undertake a particular home improvement project which he had not contemplated if information about the necessary steps to performing the project and the available products are conveyed in such a way as to make the project seem simple and uncomplicated. Therefore, it is in a seller's best interests to convey information not only about their particular products, but also information regarding the home improvement project to which the products are directed.
A typical valuable source of information regarding home improvement and construction projects and the products adapted for performing the projects is the in-store personnel. Although the in-store personnel can be trained so that they can convey reliable information regarding a particular project, this method of conveying information has drawbacks.
For instance, it may not be practical to train all in-store personnel to convey information regarding a particular project. Even if a large number of in-store personnel could be trained to convey the information, the quality of information conveyed may vary from employee to employee. Furthermore, a potential customer may not be willing to approach in-store personnel regarding a particular project about which they know little for fear of asking an unintelligent question. Moreover, while in-store personnel may be trained to convey information, they or the retail store may be reluctant to appear to endorse a particular seller's product. It would therefore be desirable to provide an expert information system for use in an integrated merchandising system to augment customer support.
It would be desirable to provide, a user-friendly system and method for conveying information regarding a particular project to potential customers in a retail store, the information conveyed being consistently reliable information about the project and a seller's products adapted to perform the project and the information conveyed in a manner consistent with the level of the individual customer's knowledge. The present invention addresses these and other needs.